. >> reporter: democrat jocelyn benson is michigan's secretary of state, the chief elections officialand the administrator for the commission. >> this commission is charged with listening to people. they're taking everything into consideration. but they've also been explicitly charged with not taking partisanship into consideration. >> reporter: before this redistricting cycle, the maps in michigan were drawn by the legislature itself. in 2010, that body was controlled by republicans, and the resulting maps were heavily tilted in the g.o.p.'s favor. >> we were very good at playing by the rules, and using the rules to our advantage. "we" being the republicans. >> reporter: jeff timmer is a former executive director of the michigan republican party, and he was a consultant to republican legislators in 2011 as they drew legislative maps. even in 2018, where democratic gubernatorial candidate gretchen whitmer won a ate-wide vote by nearlyen percentage points, democrats failed to win control of the state house, the state senate, or aajority of the state's 14 congressional seats. >> we were

also the democratic secretary of state of washington jocelyn benson. will recall that there were dozens of armed protesters gathered outside of her house a month after the presidential election threatening violence if she didn't overturn biden's victory in that state to. she and raffensperger are both among many officials from both parties who have been threatened in states around the country. but who are now advising this new effort to stand up and provide top shelf, pro bono legal defense to these elections officials to really do need defending. joining us now is michigan secretary of state joscelyn benson, she is on the advisory board of the eoldn that was just announced today. secretary benson, thank you for being here with us tonight, i appreciate you taking the time. >> i appreciate you covering this, thanks for having me. >> let me ask you first of all about your own experience, these last few months. starting after the election. how that led you to decide to take part in this effort? >> listening to your recounting of the ongoing threats that a

. >> michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson on the advisory board of the new election official legal defense network. jocelyn, thank you for joining us tonight. thanks for helping us understand. >> thanks for having me, rachel. thank you. >>> if you are a lawyer watching me right now, particularly if you are affiliated with some big law firm that does pro bono work, if you go to the legal defense website, there is two places that you can input information in there. one is if you are an election official who needs help, you can ask for it there. you can also call their toll-free number. but the other thing they're asking for is they're soliciting help from lawyers. they want good lawyers to represent election officials potentially in all 50 states in the country to sign up and volunteer to do that work. again the website will be online. we'll post on our website tonight how to reach them directly. we'll be right back. w to reach directly we'll be right back. >>> i just drove like a bat out of hell to get to the pentagon as fast as i could, to get to the day care because i knew that sh

michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson.pending some time with us today. >>> when we come back -- >> thank you. >> -- a little bit of good news for democrats hoping to beat back a highly unusual attempt by republicans to remove a sitting governor. that story is next. a sitting governor that story is next mission control, we are go for launch. ♪♪ t-minus two minutes and counting. ♪♪ um, she's eating the rocket. -copy that, she's eating the rocket. i assume we needed that? [chomping sound] ♪♪ lunchables! built to be eaten. she has eaten the rocket. [girl burps] over. if you're 55 and up, t- mobile has plans built just for you. [girl burps] whether you need a single line or lines for family members, you'll get great value on america's most reliable 5g network. like 2 lines of unlimited for just $27.50 a line. only at t-mobile. finding new routes to reach your customers, and new ways for them to reach you... is what business is all about. it's what the united states postal service has always been about. so as your business chang

. >> michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson on the advisory of the election official legal defense, thank you for joining us tonight. thanks for helping us understand. >> thanks for having me, rachel. thank you. >>> if you are a lawyer watching me right now, particularly if you are affiliated with some big law firm that does pro bono work, if you go to the legal defense website, there is two places that you can input information in there. one is if you are an election official who needs help, you can ask for it there. the other thing they're asking for there is they're soliciting help from lawyers. they want good lawyers to represent election officials potentially in all 50 states in the country to sign up and volunteer to do that work. we'll post online on our website tonight how to reach them directly. all right. we'll be right back. stay with us. ight back. stay with us and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and